Terps Open 2014 Season With Two Matches In Calif.

Maryland Athletics

8-21-2014

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland (0-0) women's soccer team opens its 2014 season with a two-match road trip to California. The Terps open the season at defending NCAA champion UCLA, which is ranked No. 1 in the preseason NSCAA poll. Maryland and the Bruins are slated for a 10 p.m. EST start at Drake Stadium on Friday, Aug. 22. The Terrapins wrap up their West Coast swing with a 4 p.m. EST match at Pepperdine on Sunday, Aug. 24 at Tari Frahm Rokus Field.

• The Maryland-UCLA game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network. JB Long and Krista Blunk will call the action. The UCLA game is also scheduled to have live audio available via uclabruins.com. The Maryland-Pepperdine match will be streamed live on pepperdinesports.com.

• This marks the first time since 2003 the Terps opened the season with their first two matches on the West Coast. In 2003 Maryland played in an ACC/Pac-10 Challenge with matches at Washington and vs. Washington State. Maryland dropped the opener to the Huskies, 2-1, but topped the Cougars, 3-0, to earn a split.

• Maryland is coming off of a 2013 season that saw the Terps finish with a 10-10-0 record and an eighth-place finish in the ACC. The defense returns five of six starters to anchor the 2014 squad. Junior Rachelle Beanlands started all 20 matches for the Terps in goal and finished with a 1.49 goals-against average. The back line returns senior Shade Pratt and juniors Shannon Collins and Erika Nelson. Collins is the lone player on the Maryland roster to start every match during the past two seasons. Junior Sarah Fichtner returned to the field after battling injuries for the previous two seasons and started 14 of the 19 matches she appeared in at holding center mid. Sophomore Lauren Berman is the team's leading returning scorer after totaling 11 points on three goals and five assists. Juniors Aubrey Baker and Alex Doody also scored three goals in 2013, while Collins led the team with six assists.

Scouting the bruins

• UCLA is coming off of a 2013 season that saw the Bruins capture the program's first NCAA championship. UCLA finished 2013 with a 22-1-3 mark and are ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA's preseason poll for 2014.

• Sophomore forward Darian Jenkins returns to lead the Bruins' offense after totaling 27 points on 11 goals and five assists as a freshman. Defensively, senior goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland returns in net for UCLA after posting a 0.27 goals-against average with 15 solo shutouts last season.

• Head Coach Amanda Cromwell is just in her second season at the helm of the UCLA program and has a 22-1-3 (.904) record. Overall, Cromwell has been a head coach for 15 seasons and is 225-84-29 (.709) overall.

Scouting the Wave

• Pepperdine is coming off of a 2013 season that saw the Wave finish with a 10-7-2 mark, but did not earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament despite a fourth-place finish in the West Coast Conference.

• Senior forward Lynn Williams returns to lead Pepperdine's offense after totaling 25 points on 11 goals and three assists in 2013. Defensively, sophomore goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland started all 19 matches in 2013 and had a 1.40 goals-against average with five shutouts.

• Head Coach Tim Ward is in his 17th season at Pepperdine and has led the Wave to a 183-97-41 mark during that time.

• Maryland has a 17-8-2 (.643) lifetime record in season openers dating back to the 1987 season.

• The Terps are undefeated in their last 10 season openers and have an 8-0-2 mark over that stretch. Maryland has not allowed even a goal during those 10 openers and has outscored its opponents 29-0 since 2004 in season openers.

The Terps vs. Ranked Opponents in Season Openers

• This season marks the seventh time in Maryland's 28 seasons the Terps will open the season vs. a ranked opponent.

• Maryland is 2-4-0 in the previous six season openers vs. ranked opponents, but the Terrapins have won the last two.

• The match vs. UCLA will be the third time Maryland has faced a defending NCAA champion in the season opener. The Terps faced off with North Carolina in 1993 and 1994 when the Tar Heels were the defending champs.

• This season marks the third time Maryland has opened a season with a road trip on the West Coast or beyond.

• The last time the Terps headed west to start a season was 2003, which also happens to be the last time Maryland lost a season opener. The Terrapins played at Washington in the ACC.Pac-10 Challenge on August 29. The Huskies' Tina Frimpong scored the game-winning goals in the 106th minute to win the match 2-1. Maryland evened its record at 1-1 with a 3-0 win over Washington State two days later. Sophomore Kimmy Francis scored twice in the victory for the Terps.

• The first time Maryland opened a season out west was 1996 and the Terps went even farther west than the West Coast. The No. 7 Terrapins played in Honolulu, Hawaii in the Hawaii Tournament on August 30 and September 1. Maryland earned a pair of 1-0 wins over St. Mary's in the opener and host Hawaii in the finale.

129 And Counting at Ludwig Field

• The Terps won their 100th match at Ludwig Field with a 6-0 victory over Iona on Aug. 20, 2010. Since its opening in 1995, Ludwig Field has proved to be a tremendous home-field advantage for the Terps women’s soccer team. All-time Maryland is 129-53-21 (.687) at Ludwig Field.

Non-Conference Success

• Dating back to its 10-0 win over Mount St. Mary’s in 2008, Maryland has lost only six times in its last 44 matches vs. non-ACC opponents. The Terps have outscored its non-conference opposition 123-25 in those 44 matches.

• The Terps recorded 20 straight wins over non-conference foes before tying Georgetown, 1-1, in second round of the NCAA tournament in 2010. Maryland is now 34-6-4 in its last 44 non-conference games. The Terps had been unbeaten in 31-straight non-conference games prior to losing, 1-0, at Oklahoma State in the Sweet 16 of the 2011 NCAA tournament.

Terps In Overtime

• Maryland has played in 98 overtime games in its 27-year history. The Terps’ all-time record in those overtime games is 29-26-43 (.515).

• In 2013, the Terps were 1-1-0 in overtime games, winning 2-1 at Clemson on Sept. 12 and falling to Boston College, 1-0, on Oct. 27.

Maryland Picked Third In Preseason Big Ten Poll

• Maryland was picked to finish third in the Big Ten when the conference released its annual preseason coaches' poll on Aug. 13. Penn State, which has won the last 15 of the last 16 Big Ten titles, was picked to finish first, followed by Wisconsin and the Terrapins. Nebraska, the defending Big Ten champion, and Michigan, which advanced to the Elite Eight in the 2013 NCAA tournament, round out the top five.